Cycling against Human Trafficking

My name is Will Lester and this summer my goal is to give back to the country that is hosting me, inspire some of my students to step up outside the classroom to make a change, and to cycle the roughly 2000 km from Hanoi in northern Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City in the south. Over the last 12 years I have enjoyed traveling and have met many people along the way (cycling, backpacking, and even one man walking) who have inspired this trip. 

After months of research and talking to friends who have either visited, or are from Vietnam, I have decided to raise money on this trip towards the cause of Human Trafficking. Vietnam is a source country where young boys and girls are trafficked to China, other neighboring countries, and within Vietnam. I am teaming up with Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in Hanoi, Vietnam for this ride. Blue Dragon has provided me with information, encouragement, and inspiration for this trip. They have had helping the children of Vietnam on their mind since 2003 and have helped educate, shelter, and save thousands of children. You can find more information below


The goal of raising $4,000 is not a number chosen at random, but is instead broken down into two goals. $2,000 of this goal will go towards the transportation of Blue Dragon Foundation employees to China to help rescue and bring back young women who have been sold into human trafficking. The other half, will go towards a years worth of nutrition and shelter for 5 women who have been rescued from human trafficking. These women are currently awaiting education and resources to hopefully return back to a regular, enjoyable, day-to-day life full of happiness, comfort, and opportunity.


Part of this trip was also put together with my past, current, and future students in mind; hoping they will see that life is about learning from challenges and if those challenges aren’t coming at you then it is ok to go out and find them. Most of the concepts and content that we teach in school goes along with the UN Sustainable Goals, but rarely do we as teachers stop to investigate if we are practicing the kind of empathy that we are teaching. We hope for our students to be more caring than we are, but never motivate ourselves to do the same. Along the way assessing, without any risk of negative feedback from failure, if we are actually becoming more caring. While teaching abroad has given me the opportunity to give back, besides the occasional pun, smile, and summers spent participating in 'voluntourism', I don’t feel that I have done enough to give back to the places that I have taught or visited. With the inspiration of my students and fellow travelers I hope to raise $4,000 to help better the country of Vietnam.


Thank you for taking the time to visit this gofundme page, reading my motivation for bringing us all together for this cause, and if you choose to, donating. Thank you for showing that people can come together to help a cause of importance, even if we are not directly impacted by the results.